Interview with Van Heeswijk

[Jonathan]

Max van Heeswijk has given an interview to Dutch sports program Studio Sport. In it, he says he was aware of Landis' drug use all along. The interviewer doesn't ask why Van Heeswijk never told anyone about it.

Van Heeswijk expresses surprise that during the winter, he would beat Landis to the top of any mountain, but during the Tour, Landis was far better. The interviewer asks if he thinks Armstrong, Rubiera or Leipheimer ever used doping. Van Heeswijk is sure they didn't. He knows this because those men were talented climbers, they didn't make sudden leaps forward in their performance.

I think it is very sad that former cyclists feel the need to come forward and spew such nonsense. Apart from the many inconsistencies (if he knew about Landis, why didn't he tell Bruyneel?) it shows that riders want to go out of their way to maintain the poisonous status quo.

Dutch journalists have a track record of not investigating doping cases too much. I think Van Heeswijk's interview is a indication of how the Landis case will be interpreted here.

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

Expect more of this to come.

Floyd will be shown as the one bad apple in USPS.

Soon it will be FatHog showed Floyd the door cos of his doping.

Today I wish Lance had fallen off a hell of a lot harder.

I wonder what sycophantic fanboy Mart Smeets makes of this?

 

[craig1985]

Is van Heeswijk still involved in cycling in any capacity? I ask, since my Dutch is not too good, whether or omerta is playing a part with what he has said (aware of Floyd, but didn't know about Lance etc.).

And besides when MVH joined USPS, Leipheimer was already at Rabobank, and MVH left Discovery Channel, Leipheimer had come crawling back...

 

[Barrus]

I find it that in the Netherlands most of the media, especially mainstream media, involved with cycling thinks of Armstrong as the best thing since sliced bread, but that most of the people who watch cycling and have an itnerest in it are quite sceptical towards him, if not outright opposed to him. Although this could just be those with whom I come into contact

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

I find it that in the Netherlands most of the media, especially mainstream media, involved with cycling thinks of Armstrong as the best thing since sliced bread, but that most of the people who watch cycling and have an itnerest in it are quite sceptical towards him, if not outright opposed to him. Although this could just be those with whom I come into contact

Agreed. Mart Smeets for example seems to want to advance his own (wide load) profile on the coat tails of Armstrong.

Most serious followers of the sport in NL watch coverage on the Flanders channel anyway.

Dutch broadcasting seems to limit itself to people who think Rabobank = Dutch National Team of Heroes and Lance = Miracle.

 

[Barrus]

Agreed. Mart Smeets for example seems to want to advance his own (wide load) profile on the coat tails of Armstrong.

Most serious followers of the sport in NL watch coverage on the Flanders channel anyway.

Dutch broadcasting seems to limit itself to people who think Rabobank = Dutch National Team of Heroes and Lance = Miracle.

Best part about this is that the Flemish are starting to realize this more and more and begin to focus more and more on the Dutch riders, besides the Belgian riders It is especially nice these last few weeks how cross the commentators of the Flemish are that neither Vacansoleil, nor Skil-Shimano is invited for any upcoming or past (the Ardennes-classics) major events.

But it is not only the NOS which are that bad, the guys at Eurosport are even worse, watch a little bit of the ToC there yesterday and they were talking about the incident, they literally said this:

Now it's just his word against that of Lance and we now nothing further, thus we need to believe Lance. Landis is a liar and a cheat and he blackmailed everybody. It is good that the UCI did not start an investigation, and if WADA or the USADA does so they first need to have a mental capacity test on Landis

The exact drivel which came from the press conference of Lance

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

Best part about this is that the Flemish are starting to realize this more and more and begin to focus more and more on the Dutch riders, besides the Belgian riders It is especially nice these last few weeks how cross the commentators of the Flemish are that neither Vacansoleil, nor Skil-Shimano is invited for any upcoming or past (the Ardennes-classics) major events.

But it is not only the NOS which are that bad, the guys at Eurosport are even worse, watch a little bit of the ToC there yesterday and they were talking about the incident, they literally said this:


The exact drivel which came from the press conference of Lance

I couldn't sleep last night cos Dutch EuroSport's ToC coverage.

My favourite part was:

"Armstrong donated 500000$ to the UCI so they could develop a new machine to test for blood manipulation, and the first person they caught was Tyler Hamilton. Lance was just SO sick of competing against these cheats"

Funny that a channel that backed LA to the extent of devoting a daily programme to him decides to keep sipping the koolaid.

 

[Race Radio]

MVH was well known as a doper. That is why he was unable to find a job until The Hog picked him up for peanuts. He would have a burst of a bunch of good races then disappear for the rest of the year.

The disinformation campaign has started

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

MVH was well known as a doper. That is why he was unable to find a job until The Hog picked him up for peanuts. He would have a burst of a bunch of good races then disappear for the rest of the year.

The disinformation campaign has started

I believe Jeroen Blijlevens works for Dutch Eurosport

He was at the heart of the TVM doping excesses of the late 90's.

 

[Barrus]

I couldn't sleep last night cos Dutch EuroSport's ToC coverage.

I had the same, until I started drinking Only way to make that race fun

 

[Jonathan]

Agreed. Mart Smeets for example seems to want to advance his own (wide load) profile on the coat tails of Armstrong.

Most serious followers of the sport in NL watch coverage on the Flanders channel anyway.

Dutch broadcasting seems to limit itself to people who think Rabobank = Dutch National Team of Heroes and Lance = Miracle.

Smeets' devotion to Armstrong is very unfortunate, as his interviews have occasionally been quite good; for example, when he talked with Jans Koerts and Berend Nikkels, it seemed quite balanced and realistic.

He just doesn't want to criticise Armstrong. Even a small retorical slap on the wrist for being 'negative about his twitter' makes Smeets visibly wince.

Perhaps the problem is that for many years, Dutch journalists and the world of cycling have had an agreement about how they present the sport. Why write about doping when the performances themselves offer better and safer stories?

"I don't want rumours or suspicions, I want facts!" Maarten Ducrot cried out last year while he was commentating. The obvious conclusion - let's go after some facts - is, however, not drawn in the Netherlands. I don't want to single out Mart Smeets in this critique, because he has modestly trying to change it somewhat. But his meek attitude towards Armstrong has been damaging the relation between reporters and the public.

 

[craig1985]

I couldn't sleep last night cos Dutch EuroSport's ToC coverage.

My favourite part was:

"Armstrong donated 500000$ to the UCI so they could develop a new machine to test for blood manipulation, and the first person they caught was Tyler Hamilton. Lance was just SO sick of competing against these cheats"

Funny that a channel that backed LA to the extent of devoting a daily programme to him decides to keep sipping the koolaid.

British Eurosport during the TOC coverage isn't much better. Carlton Kirby, the commentator (I think it was him), was more or less performing on-air virtual fellatio on Armstrong Good thing about recording the coverage is that I can fast forward through all the crap, including Planet Armstrong.

It's either that or SBS Two and get Phil and Paul. I think British Eurosport is the lesser of two evils.

 

[Race Radio]

I believe Jeroen Blijlevens works for Dutch Eurosport

He was at the heart of the TVM doping excesses of the late 90's.

I was referring to when he was a rider. The rumor was he went to Postal for 1/3 of his normal wage because he was too risky and no body would hire him

 

[craig1985]

Bruyneel said in his book that he was paying MVH 10% of his salary for his first year on the team.

 

[Colm.Murphy]

MVH beating Flandis up a climb... I laughed out loud.

 

[Bala Verde]

Max van Heeswijk has given an interview to Dutch sports program Studio Sport. In it, he says he was aware of Landis' drug use all along. The interviewer doesn't ask why Van Heeswijk never told anyone about it.

Van Heeswijk expresses surprise that during the winter, he would beat Landis to the top of any mountain, but during the Tour, Landis was far better. The interviewer asks if he thinks Armstrong, Rubiera or Leipheimer ever used doping. Van Heeswijk is sure they didn't. He knows this because those men were talented climbers, they didn't make sudden leaps forward in their performance.

I think it is very sad that former cyclists feel the need to come forward and spew such nonsense. Apart from the many inconsistencies (if he knew about Landis, why didn't he tell Bruyneel?) it shows that riders want to go out of their way to maintain the poisonous status quo.

Dutch journalists have a track record of not investigating doping cases too much. I think Van Heeswijk's interview is a indication of how the Landis case will be interpreted here.

Most interesting IMO was that, when the interviewer asked him if he had noticed or knew of doping use, MVH uncategorically stated he did notice that 'others' used doping. Pressed how he would know that, MVH said that he, 'the clean one', would fade after 10 days in a tour and 'others' wouldn't. By that logic, he should suspect most GC contenders and GC winners.

When asked 'hard' (ahem) questions about those others, he shifts back to Landis and that he knew about him, as he saw him with bags when they bunked together.

1) he knew about Landis, because they roomed together, but did not tell anyone.
2) On the one hand he was happy to know, because it would explain why Landis got in such great shape 2 months into the season, while in the winter at training camps he would 'outride Landis on climbs'. On the other hand he actually didn't want to know, because of the illegality of it.
3)he knew about 'others' by means of inference, but refuses to apply that to anyone else on his team.

I wonder when the dutch media will ask Hennie Kuijper about his stay at Motorola with Ochowicz.

 

[bobbins]

Didn't MvHs feet grow a full size during one season?

 

[Cloxxki]

When I heard the MvH interview, it totally sounded like an omerta press release, whispered into his ear by Bruyneel, who probably has a safe with ALL incriminating evidence of all riders that ever rode for him. MvH HAS to be loyal, or go "naked buttocks" himself, as we say in Dutch.

Also, from the sound of his voice, it seemed like he'd seen other team members dope as well, just didn't mean to get that message out, and pointed it all back to Landis. To some extent it sounded believable that MvH took "less" than the others, but his conscience was obviously not a factor, having not told on Landis to the holy directeur sportif.

Riders among themselves are quite open about their usage, even to those they don't know personally. I heard from an amateur rider that for an insignificant stage race in Belgium, he happened to share a room with a Belgian pro. He shot himself up in the room, with the amateur present. When asked why the F he was on such crap, the pro answered that cycling is the only thing he knows how, and he has a wife and kid to take care of. He's never been caught or incriminated as far as I know.

This is bad knowledge you know. I've ridden wheel to wheel with Belgian pros (Farm Frites was big at that time). I know I was clean, and I didn't really train well, but I was pretty close in fitness. Beat some of them. If doping really was a generic as is coming out more and more, I could have been a pro rider, even with my meager training mileage, full time job, etc. In retrospect, I have been the first non-pro in some races, leading to the suspicion I "could" have done much better. Not that I regret having been clean of course, my trophies are the times I rode with the greatest of the world, and was beat with huge margin. And the small time pro's I beat a few times, fair and square.